The team at The Tip Tap Room plans to turn the space next door at 138 Cambridge St., which was last home to a Subway sandwich shop, into the first brick-and-mortar location for their existing specialty-grocery delivery service. Crane River Cheese Club, presented by Chef Brian Poe and Nick Giannotti, both of The Tip Tap Room, offers a full selection of “chef-curated” groceries, including specialty meat, seafood, produce, pastas, oils, and pantry ingredients, such as specialty meats; seasonally sources cheeses; and vegetables and specialty herbs grown at their own LePoe LePoe Farm in Danvers, as well as at other local organic farms.
Besides offering the same selection of high-quality groceries as the online store, the future Cambridge Street location will also have daily sandwich and salad specials A sample menu for the Cambridge Street location, which the business shared with the Beacon Hill Civic Association Zoning and Licensing Committee, and is posted on the BHCA website (bhcivic.org), includes chalkboard sandwich specials like “prosciutto, porcini, olive tapenade, Auntie Em’s mustard, cornichons, basil, chive, and Four Fat Fowl cheese on toasted ciabatta bread; cold roast beef infused with truffle, rosemary, peppercorn, and horseradish, Cypress Hill Purple Haze lavender and fennel cheese, basil and cucumber vinaigrette, and pea tendrils on toasted sourdough; a grilled tuna sandwich, seaweed rubbed with brussels sprout kimchee, chive ginger and soy mayo on a sesame bun; and the lamb gyro, tomato tzatziki, cucumber in red onion and mint vinaigrette, and feta cheese on garlic naan.” A side offered with each sandwich includes the customer’s choice of sherry vin bacon and chive potato salad; charred broccoli “cole slaw” with red onion and a pecorino and cheddar aioli; bean salad with Tuscan herbed balsamic vin; or Really Freaking Good potato chips. Chalkboard salad specials on the sample menu include a salad of local tomato, cucumber, arugula, eggplant Milanese croutons, micro basil, candied lemon cucumber vinaigrette, pearled farro, and burrata cheese; a cold salad of beets, kale, foraged and roasted mushrooms, baby kale, mint, pea tendrils, Israeli cous cous, brie, mushroom, and rosemary and truffle vinaigrette; a chef’s salad of cucumber, LePoe Farm tomatoes, boiled duck egg, hickory smoked bacon, ham, Cato Corner Farm alpine swiss cheese, turkey, romaine, Boston lettuce, watercress, and spinach; and a veggie salad of charred broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, mesclun greens, tabouleh, feta, cauliflower flat bread crouton, and red bell pepper hummus dressing. “Beacon Hill has been very good to me in my career and cooking. I’m excited to remain a part of the neighborhood, and to add more to it with high-quality ingredients and friendship,” said Chef Poe, who, besides The Tip Tap Room, also owns and operates Parish Café in the Back Bay. Crane River Cheese Club, which will soon open at 148 Cambridge St., Unit 2, is now awaiting final approvals from the city and expected to “open by mid-July, if not earlier,” according to Poe.